Coil forming apparatus

ABSTRACT

This disclosure pertains to a scrap winder as employed in the manufacture of flat rolled products in the steel industry. The scrap winder consists of an arbor around which the scrap in a narrow band form is fed at constant speed or varying speed within defined limits. The band is engaged by a piston cylinder assembly displaceable eye arranged in front of the arbor for causing the band to travel from one side to the other side of the arbor during its coiling. The controlled axial movement of the eye and hence, the band is provided by driving the arbor with a motor and varying its speed as the coil builds up to maintain the peripheral speed of the coil at a constant desired speed and at the same time proportionally driving a pump associated with the piston cylinder assembly. The past scrap winders as used in the steel industry for coiling marginal scrap of side trimmed flat rolled strip have provided several means for attempting to assure that evenly formed coils would be produced. These means have not been found totally acceptable mainly due to the cost of manufacturing and maintaining them in proper operating condition and because proper spaced winding was disrupted due to the stop and restart of the line.

United States Patent [1 1 Miller 1 COIL FORMING APPARATUS [75] lnventor: Paul W. Miller, Warren, Ohio [73] Assignee: Wean United Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.

[22] Filed: Oct. 4, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 403,581

7/1936 Switzerland .l. 242/158 F Primary ExaminerEdward J. McCarthy Attorney, Agent, or FirmHenry C. Westin; Daniel Patch [4 1 Jan. 28, 1975 [57] ABSTRACT This disclosure pertains to a scrap winder as employed in the manufacture of flat rolled products in the steel industry. The scrap winder consists of an arbor around which the scrap in a narrow band form is fed at constant speed or varying speed within defined limits. The band is engaged by a piston cylinder assembly displaceable eye arranged in front of the arbor for causing the band to travel from one side to the other side of the arbor during its coiling. The controlled axial movement of the eye and hence, the band is provided by driving the arbor with a motor and varying its speed as the coil builds up to maintain the peripheral speed of the coil at a constant desired speed and at the same time proportionally driving a pump associated with the piston cylinder assembly.

The past scrap winders as used in the steel industry for coiling marginal scrap of side trimmed flat rolled strip have provided several means for attempting to assure that evenly formed coils would be produced. These means have not been found totally acceptable mainly due to the cost of manufacturing and maintaining them in proper operating condition and because proper spaced winding was disrupted due to the stop and restart of the line.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENIED W 3.862.728

sum 1 0r 2 FIG.

PATENTH] JAN 2 8 I975 sum 2 or 2 1 COIL FORMING APPARATUS It is the object of the present invention to provide an economical trouble-free and easily maintainable apparatus for winding into uniformed coils narrow band-like material which is much narrower than the finished formed coil.

It is more particularly an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for winding into an uniform coil band-like material fed at any speed up to a specified maximum, comprising a material engaging means arranged to engage the material before coiling on an arbor, means for reciprocally displacing said material engaging means in a direction parallel to the axis of said arbor so that said engaging means will cause an axial displacement of the material being fed to said arbor, and means associated with said displaceable means to control the rate of movement thereof so that an exact displacement of the engaging means is achieved for each full rotation of the wound coil and independent of the diameter of the coil.

These objects, as well as other novel features and advantages of the present invention, will be better appreciated when the following description of one embodiment thereof is' read along with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a scrap winding apparatus constructed in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

With reference to FlGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a well-known form of a scrap winder for coiling mild carbon steel rolled side trimmed strip, HO. 1 indicating by the arrow 12 the direction of the incoming sheared marginal band which may be assumed to measure one inch in width by 0.045 in thickness. The winder 10 includes an arbor 14 around which the band is to be wound into a uniformed coil of, for example, inches in width between opposed flanges l6 and 18 mounted on the arbor 14. The arbor 14 at the right side, as one views the drawings, is rotatably supported in a bearing stand 20 and a somewhat larger stand at the left at 22 through which the arbor 14 passes and is connected by a coupling 24 and an electrical motor 25 shown only in FIG. 1. As FIG. 2 illustrates, the bearing stands 20 and 22 are interconnected and supported by a common base 26 making up a very rigid coiling structure.

The formation of the coil by moving the band in a controlled manner axially of the axis of the arbor 14, with reference to the peripheral speed of the forming coil and an exact part or full coil revolution to axial displacement of the band, which is the arrangement to which the present invention is particularly addressed, is accomplished by providing an eye 28 at the entry side of the arbor 14. The eye is large enough in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions to allow free and easy threading and feeding of the band from the scrap shear, not shown, to the scrap winder 10. It will be appreciated that on axial movement of the eye 28 while the band on the far side of the arbor will be deflected along an horizontal path of travel on the near side of the arbor, it will run normal to a plane passing through the axis of the arbor at a tangential point where the band contacts the arbor or the outer convolution of the coil.

The inner end of the eye 28 is connected to a rod 30 which is guided in spaced supports 32 and 34 serving as a part of the scrap winder 10. To the left end of the rod 30 there is secured a piston rod of a piston cylinder assembly 36, best shown in FIG. 2. In addition. as shown in FIG. 1, to the same end of the rod there is sccured a directional control rod 38 having stop elements 40 arranged to engage a limit switch 42 carried by the adjacent part of the frame of the scrap winder 10. A tripping of the limit switch 42 will effect a reversal of the direction of operation of the piston cylinder assembly 36 by virtue of a directional control valve 44 electrically associated with the limit switch 42 and the piston cylinder assembly 36.

The controlled axial movement of the eye and hence the band is provided by driving an hydraulic motor from a power takeoff from the rotating arbor of the scrap winder. The hydraulic motor will displace a constant volume of oil during each revolution of the pump substantially independent of speed of revolution of the pump or the pressure requirement. Thus for each revolution of the winder arbor the displaceable eye is moved a precise distance.

The rate of speed of the piston cylinder assembly 36 is synchronized and made proportional to the available speed of the driving hydraulic motor 25 of the arbor 14 by providing a fluid motor 46 employed as a pump. The pump 46 is driven by the arbor 14 by a belt 48, the arrangement being best shown in FIG. 2. In the arrangement shown, one revolution of the arbor 14 equals approximately l-inch travel of the piston cylinder assembly 36 and of the eye 28, and hence, the band axially of the axis of the arbor 14. To illustrate the speed and traverse relationships of the arbor, coil, and piston cylinder assembly 36, for a band entry speed of a 1,000 fpm, for a lO-inch diameter arbor its speed will be 382 rpms and the speed of a 28-inch coil would be 136 rpms. At this condition the in and out" traveling speed of the piston cylinder assembly 36 will be approximately 5 to 7 inches per second.

The means for varying the speed of the hydraulic motor 25 and hence the arbor 14 is shown generally at 50 in FIG. 1, which may follow several well-known devices employed in the past for this purpose such as variable displacement electric motor driven hydraulic piston pumps. By this arrangement a constant tension can be maintained on the incoming strip even though its speed may change as well as varying the rpm of the arbor 14 due to coil buildup.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, l have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what i consider to represent the best embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for winding into an uniform coil continuous strand-like material fed at any speed up to a specified maximum rate of speed, in which said coil is made up of a large number of wraps displaced axially about its axis of formation comprising:

an arbor around which the material is fed for coiling,

means for rotating said arbor to effect a coiling of said material including means for varying the speed of said arbor to control the peripheral speed of the coil,

means for engaging said material before it is received by said arbor,

a piston cylinder assembly for reciprocally displacing said material engaging means in a direction parallel to the axis of said arbor so that said engaging means ing speed of said arbor rotating means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said arbor rotating means comprises an electrical motor. said power transmitting means comprises a belt arranged to be driven by said motor and for driving said pump. 

1. An apparatus for winding into an uniform coil continuous strand-like material fed at any speed up to a specified maximum rate of speed, in which said coil is made up of a large number of wraps displaced axially about its axis of formation comprising: an arbor around which the material is fed for coiling, means for rotating said arbor to effect a coiling of said material including means for varying the speed of said arbor to control the peripheral speed of the coil, means for engaging said material before it is received by said arbor, a piston cylinder assembly for reciprocally displacing said material engaging means in a direction parallel to the axis of said arbor so that said engaging means will cause an axial displacement of the strand being fed to said arbor, a fluid pump associated with the rotation of said arbor and said displaceable means to control the rate of movement thereof, and power transmitting means for connecting said pump and said means for rotating said arbor whereby said pump is driven at a speed proportional to the varying speed of said arbor rotating means.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said arbor rotating means comprises an electrical motor, said power transmitting means comprises a belt arranged to be driven by said motor and for driving said pump. 